In English

What is Demos Helsinki?

Demos Helsinki is Finland's only independent think tank. Our aim is to develop democracy to suit the needs and capabilities of the people of the 21st century.

There is a sense of urgency to our aim: many of the central social issues of our time, such as climate crisis and wellbeing, among others, require wider participation of individuals than our democracies allow today.

Our vision is essentially people-centric. We believe that all change starts with an individual and emerges from our communities. We also know that action creates values. Therefore it is important for politics to focus on creating everyday tools and structures for action, rather than only traditional political instruments, such as incentives and rules.

In the heart of Demos Helsinki’s work is extensive, high-quality research. It produces scenarios, recommendations and experimentations, which give new insight into grasping the great challenges of the future. Central themes of our research are well-being, democracy and citizen participation, future cities and low-carbon society.

Demos Helsinki works with companies, NGOs and Finnish ministries, the parliament, municipalities and other organisations of the public sector that are willing to widen their perspective and renew themselves. The starting point of the collaboration is acting, learning and creating together.

Publications and projects

Most of our publications are in Finnish, but the following can give you an idea of Demos Helsinki's thinking.

City 2.0 – Towards a Social Silicon Valley (PDF). Second prized proposal for the vision of Greater Helsinki. Yeah, its full of typos.

Wikicities.  A column on the new phase in urban development in Monocle -magazine.

Gatekeepers changing consumers' behaviour in energy consumption. A conference article analysing what are the most relevant energy decisions in our life and who are the gatekeepers – professional and peer groups – in creating a Finnish low-carbon society.

Politics of Happines – A Manifesto. Towards the Futures of One Earth (PDF). Most of us appreciate happiness more than economic wealth. In a democratic society this should be a matter of politics. We are in a situation where new challenges require new mechanisms. In politics of happiness is about developing and making use of these mechanisms. The research on happiness has increased in recent years. With the insight it offers us, building sustainable happiness should be easier than before. The manifesto tells how more peaceful rhythm, participation, meaningful action together, creation of culture of well-being and deeper relationships with others make building happiness possible and just.

See also examples of projects we have done in different fields.

Visit Slide Share for our presentations, some of them are in English even. For example a presentation on Demos Helsinki and the Peloton project.

Contact

Our staff's e-mail addresses follow the pattern firstname.lastname (at) demos.fi
You can also contact us at news (at) demos.fi

Physically you often find us here.